See, we are not the only ones who baptize in outdoor pools out of necessity!
Novomoskovsk, Russia, July 29, 2019
Photo: monasterium.ru
The entire Russian Orthodox Church and beyond celebrated the feast of St. Vladimir, the Equal-to-the-Apostles, and the 1,031st anniversary of the Baptism of Rus’ Saturday and yesterday, with the main celebrations occurring in Kiev, where 300,000 faithful children of the canonical Ukrainian Church gathered in a cross procession. A procession was also held in Moscow from the Holy Dormition Cathedral in the Kremlin to the nearby monument to St. Vladimir, the Baptizer of Rus’.
Photo: monasterium.ru
The Baptism of Rus’ was also gloriously celebrated in the Holy Dormition Monastery in Novomoskovsk, 140 miles south of Moscow in the Tula Province, where more than 100 people were united to Christ in His holy Church by the Sacrament of Baptism, reports the Synodal Department for Monasteries and Monasticism of the Russian Church.
Photo: monasterium.ru
Abbot Agafangel (Boldin) celebrated the Divine Liturgy that day with the ordained brethren of the monastery and visiting clergy, after which the mass Baptism was served at a site in front of the summer church in honor of the Holy Myrrh-bearing Women.
Photo: monasterium.ru
Fr. Agafangel offered some words on the occasion, explaining the history of the feast of the Baptism of Rus’ at the monastery:
The tradition of the feast was founded with the blessing of the ever-memorable Archimandrite Laurus (Timokhin) in 2013 in honor of the 1,025th adoption of Christianity by Prince Vladimir. On this anniversary of the Baptism of Rus’, we joyfully see how so many people have prepared for the Sacrament of Baptism and the beginning of a new spiritual life.
This is more than 100 people, including young children and adults who have lived a long life and are making their religious and ideological choice—life with Christ—in old age.
In this regard, we congratulate everyone with this present great feast and your personal day of spiritual birth in the Sacrament of holy Baptism.
Photo: monasterium.ru
This was not the first mass Baptism celebrated on the feast of the Baptism of Rus’. More than 200 residents of the village of Chulman in the Russian Sakha Republic received holy Baptism in the waters of the Chulman River on the feast in 2017.
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